Friends and Alibis
by I.Write.Love
Summary: So after breaking Alison's PlayStation, we, including her boyfriend Paul and my friend Cody, ended up in Kingdom Hearts. Well, all hell's gonna break loose now... -Co-written in a way with iSpazzeh14.-
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes from I. Write. Love.: ... And I'm going to die now. Three chapter stories... This one is ALL iSpazzeh's fault in a sense... Being over at her house makes my brain work to well... -glare- Now I'm co-writing a story with her? Awesome... (Spazzeh: Thanks.)**

**So anyway. Welcome to next Kingdom Hearts chapter story! Weee! This time it's got randomness and humor, romance and adventure! Not to mention you'd get what I'd call a peek in on my boring ass life! W00t! **

**No, I'm kiddin'. If this actually happened, I'd own Kingdom Hearts right now. Literally. **

**Well, enough of the useless talk. TO THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: Although I might own the rights to use iSpazzeh (Alison), Cody, Paul and I in this story, I don't own anything else, including PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts and the creepy dark portal guy... -shivers-**

**Riku stole my rum during "The Opposite of Light". Steal it back from that bastard if ya see him, kay?**

**Shoutout from iSpazzeh14: =D Heyo, everyone! So, FINALLY, I make a MAJOR contribution in one of I. Write. Love's stories, rather than the minor ones that I've made in her previous stories, WHICH I never gained much credit for. Thanks, I.W.L -glares back- (I.W.L: DON'T GLARE AT ME BITCH!) But Anyways... Enjoy!~ And be sure to read the sisterfic that I'll have up soom! (The same story, but from my point of view =p )**

**Quick Edit from I.W.L.: The last names have been changed as well as R.L. locations. Sorrrry stalkers.**

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**Chapter One:**

"Rachell! Xemnas got Sora!"

"Cody, shut up and stop telling me the obvious!"

I shoved the annoying brunette away and gripped the controller as I smashed the 'X' button down. I heard him growl in irritation as he sulked to sit beside me as my friend, Alison, and her boyfriend, Paul, chuckled from the couch.

"Ya'll are more fun to watch than that game." Paul said sarcastically, most likely texting on his rather than actually paying attention. He wasn't a gaming nerd. So what?

Alison, on the other hand, was, and decided to comment as such. "Well, I have to agree; you two interesting when you argue."

Cody turned. "Shut up! She's fighting like crap!"

"Doesn't mean you need to tell me, Cody!" I snapped back, losing my focus on the game for a whole second and getting a nice round of attacks as a consequence. Dammit. "Besides, I'd like to see you do better!"

The brunette started for the PlayStation's controller, only for it to be moved out of his reach. "How am I supposed to prove you wrong if you won't give me the damn thing?" He growled, scowling in my direction.

"I'm in the middle of a boss battle! You can wait!" The health bar dropped half-way. Daaaammit. With little to no control, I pressed pause and turn toward him. "If I keep losing health because of you I swear I'll get a Keyblade and kick your ass!"

"That's not a threat!"

"Like hell it is!"

Alison threw a pillow at us, frowning at us both as Paul wrapped his arms around her. "Both of you shut up and play the game already!"

We didn't decide to argue. Cody threw the pillow back at the couch as I resumed the game and continued my Xemnas-ass-kicking time. The stupid brunette wasn't talking, and I assumed he had given up on control of the game, so I settled back into the fight easily; a few hits on me, even more so on the boss, and I would be done. I would have beaten Kingdom Hearts II. Accomplishment? I think so. I was down to no health, as was Xemnas… Just one more combo…

My vision of the TV went nearly all to dark and I screamed, pounding on the pause button as I kicked whatever was in front of me hard in the stomach. Cody rolled off me in pain as I pulled the controller back to me, glaring daggers at him. "What the hell?" I screamed at him as he rose up from the ground, holding his stomach.

"I tackled you and you kicked me!" Cody yelled back, brown eyes staring me down.

I growled. "Yeah, I kicked you because you tackled me, dumbass! Maybe next time you shouldn't do that!" Even as focused as I was on Cody right now, Alison was pinching the bridge of her nose, Paul still having no interest and on his phone. Why was he here again?

"That's it…" Cody dove for the controller again, this time his hand actually managing to make contact and seize it, wrestling for the thing on the carpet. I aimed a cheap kick and he tried for a bit on my wrist, but the cord wrapped around one of our ankles (to this day I swear up and down it was his), and the PlayStation fell off the TV, crashing into the ground below in a display of sparks and smoke. Our fighting stopped as we gapped, the screen going blank. Alison made a noise caught somewhere between "what-have-you-just-done" and "I'm-going-to-kill-you".

"M-My PlayStation…" she whimpered a little, standing as her boyfriend tried to pull her back down. Shit. We were dead.

Cody took the defensive. "What the hell did you do?" He yelled at me, releasing the control from his grip and pulling away.

"ME? I didn't do it!"

"You're the one with the controller in your hand!"

I threw it at his face, missing, but growling. "The cord wrapped around your ankle!"

"Like that happened!" He threw it back at me, but I dodged it and it struck the ground, bits of black flying everywhere. Now we were dead… Twice.

Alison made another noise, but I was to busy gaping at him. "Look what you did!"

"I didn't dodge it!"

"You threw it!"

"SHUT UP!"

We (including Alison) looked over at Paul, who had put down his phone for a split second to glare at us, annoyance in his brown eyes. "Thank you. Yellin' ain't gonna fix that thing."

"Then what is?" Cody snapped back, just having to be sarcastic in a time like this. Alison had sunk back to the couch, holding her head and mumbling something about torture chambers and an abundance of chains. I was trying to collect pieces of what was left of the controller, as the PlayStation still scared me to touch; smoke was still rising from the tray area and sparks were still flying from the back of it. I'd get Cody to pick up later. If he got electrocuted, it wouldn't matter, really.

Paul didn't have an answer back, leaving Cody with a scowl as he turned back to the blank TV and broken PlayStation. "Well, guess you won't know how it ends."

My last nerve snapped. "Of course I won't." I faced him, and he winced away if even a little. "All I needed was one more combo. ONE MORE COMBO. Yet, you had to be stupid and try to get the controller away from me, and now I will never know. AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT."

"That's really what you're worried about? You just broke my PlayStation, and you're worried about the ending?" Alison was asking, looking up from her hands, a glare set in her brown eyes. "Fine. You want to know the ending? Roxas dies. The end."

My jaw fell open as Cody snorted. "That's not the ending. The real ending is…"

"SHUT UP!" I punched him on the arm. "Don't tell me how it ends!"

He rubbed his arm and stood, sulking away toward the kitchen. "Hey, Alison, anything else to eat?"

She glared in his general direction. "Yeah, I think there's some bleach in there somewhere…"

"That's not funny." Cody popped back into view, frowning. "Really, I'm hungry."

"Really, my PlayStation's broke now because of you and Rachell. Food should be the least of your worries."

I paled a little, then stood and stalking Cody into the kitchen, opening the fridge door and pulling out the box of pizza from earlier. "Here. Food."

"But we already ate that…" He whined, taking it from me anyway and opening it up. "Sweet, there's still pepperoni!" All thoughts of eating the left-overs escaped from his mind as he grabbed a slice and bit into it, nearly skipping back to the living room and leaving me behind. I narrowed my eyes and picked up the box, carrying it back to Alison and Paul.

Cody had flopped down on the couch as Paul picked up what was left of the PlayStation, Alison still mourning over the loss of her favorite game console, and most likely her favorite game as well. "There ain't no way we're gonna be able to save it." Paul said, swatting away the smoke from the console and looking back to Alison. "They wrecked it."

She whimpered painfully. "You… You owe me so much now…"

I made a face and set the box down, moving away twice as fast to avoid anything else being thrown at me. "Well, um, on the bright side, uh…"

"We have pizza!" Cody chimed with the brightest smile on his face that quickly faded as we all gave him a look. "Sorry for being optimistic…"

"I'll return to optimism when I've got another PS2 and a copy of Kingdom Hearts II." Alison said, voice muffled by her hands. "Until then, the positives are not in my mind."

Paul's look was sympathetic, while mine was crossed between that and the pain I knew was to come. Cody didn't seem to care for much over his disappearing slice of pizza, though, like he completely forgot what had happened only a few moments before. If he did, that wouldn't have surprised me. Cody Hatton was not the brightest person, his intelligence consisting of hitting his head harder than normal against just about every locker he saw. Most of the lockers at our school had nice sized dents in them, and Cody seemed pretty proud about it.

While Cody had the intelligence of a squirrel, Alison Beishem fared a whole hell of a lot better. She had taken honors English for a while in school, and was in two juniors' classes, which was more so to say for me. Her boyfriend Paul Hardwick seemed to be the same way, although I wasn't entirely sure. He was visiting us from Waco for Spring Break, and I had only met the guy a few days ago. We got along fine, though. Well, at least better than Cody and I.

I, Rachell Davis, am a dumbass, and that's probably the sweetest way to put it. In school I nearly failed Algebra I and Chemistry when I took them, and I didn't do much better in my other subjects, the only two I've ever been good at were English and History. The only reason people ever automatically think of me as "smart" is because I wear glasses and sit in the back quietly, never drawing attention to myself. Well, thanks for the stereotypes high school.

Aside from our smarts or lack-thereof, we all were video game nerds, minus Paul, of course. Cody and I had actually met because of Kingdom Hearts II in Biology, and getting to know Alison was a plus because of the game. Unfortunately, Paul had never heard of Kingdom Hearts, and was lost even watching us play the game for three days straight from the beginning two different times, leaving Cody and I to wonder where it was he grew up exactly.

So we were all crazy, but I'd like to know about any group of friends who aren't.

After Paul managed to clean up the PlayStation's remains and Alison held a quick funeral, we went back to the living room without anything to do, our motivation to actually do anything at all suddenly drained as that last shred of entertainment was dumped in the trash. As we sat there, just looking at the wall, there was a crash from down the hall, and Cody jumped a little, dropping his phone onto my lap.

"Dude, did you not get enough out of throwing that controller at me?" I snapped, when Alison waved at us.

"Shut up. What was that?"

I shrugged as Cody and Paul went into the room to investigate. There was a muffled yell and Paul reappeared running and ducking behind the TV screaming, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?" Cody was quick to follow suit, cursing and mumbling while holding his arm, blood dripping a little.

"Cody, what the f-"

"That's a freakin' Dusk!" He yelled, and I swore it took way to long for my mind to process that.

Alison and I exchanged a glance as our brains caught up. "What?" He had to be going completely mental right now. There was no way there was a Dusk in the house!

I hate being wrong.

If on a cue, the stupid white creature slithered out from the back, hissing and clawing its way toward us. Paul still was hiding behind the TV and Cody stepped in front of Alison and I, probably in some way of protection.

It stopped as quickly as it started, and stood, body moving in that creepy dance as it stared us down, mouth hanging open. I made a face caught between confusion and relief before there was a 'whoosh' and a boot heel on tile, making Cody and I turn around quickly. A well built and obviously taller man stood in front of the door, a rippling and swirling dark portal behind him as he surveyed the room, face hidden from sight by his hood. "This world seems weak and pathetic."

"Who in the hell are you?" Cody snapped, glaring at him, even though I could guess he knew.

The man's gaze turned back to us, then lingered down a little at Paul, who froze. "And you four are who connected it. Equally as pathetic."

"Who are you calling pathetic?" Paul asked, standing up with more courage than before, fists tightened at his side. A man he could handle, but a creature unknown to him was too much apparently.

"You fool." The man shook his head, and I caught a glimpse of silver hair. My stomach sunk. "You think you're brave, but you could never handle yourself up against me."

Paul's rage was growing, I could tell, and Alison took half a step forward.

"I could take ya." The teen growled, never moving from his spot in front of the stranger.

"No, you couldn't Paul." Alison then stepped forward, smiling mischievously at the cloaked man.

I smirked as well. "But we know someone who can."

"What-"

It was enough of a distraction, and with Cody's hand firmly in mine, Alison and I dashed toward the portal, Paul having enough understanding of the situation to follow. As soon as we fell through it, the grip on Cody's hand faltered and my vision went black.

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The first thing I realized when I came to was the pressure on my back. The second was said weight was of Cody, who was right on top of my back, equally as unconscious as I had been. Without hesitation I pushed him off with a low curse, successfully waking him up.

"Wha' the?" he groaned, rubbing his head and sitting up. "Where in the hell are we?"

During the quiet commotion, Alison and Paul had been roused from their sleep as well, sitting up and rubbing their eyes, all while trying to take in the sights around them. I was the one with enough clarity to actually answer Cody's question however. "I know this going to sound crazy and unbelievable, but I think we're in the World That Never Was…."

"Huh?" Paul asked, face showing evident confusion as well as some sort of belief that I was indeed crazy. "The World That Never what?"

Alison, as soon as her cleared eyes would allow it, looked around and all color left her cheeks. "Well I'll be damned…" She didn't even stop to correct herself as she stood and collected more of the castle. "We are… You can tell by the walls."

Cody and I exchanged glances, rising to stand as well and looking around. She wasn't lying; eerie white moving walls with the same insignia on each of them, evidence that we were in that cursed castle. "But… How?"

"The dark portal…" Cody mused, eyes scanning over every detail. "Either we're in some obsessive fan's house or this is the real deal… We're in Kingdom Hearts."

I almost fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Notes from I. Write. Love: So iSpazzeh went to fetch some coffee for us. We didn't get to sleep until about four this morning so she's running on four and a half hours of sleep while I managed to sleep in until about twelve ^^ I so win. On other news that has something to do with the story; BOOYAH CHAPTER TWO. This one's gonna be total crack-ness, I hope you realize that as soon as you see it. WE ARE HYPER ON COFFEE AS I SPEAK.**

**Or will be…**

**Whatever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the coffee, the game, or any characters beside Alison, Cody and Paul. If I did own Kingdom Hearts, Testuya Nomura wouldn't have been such a genius, right? Haha. Sqee-Enix will go down someday…**

**(Off screen: -a lot of crashes and clanks and what not- Oh, she's back)**

**Shout Out from Spaizz!: =D I HAS COFFEE! Only four hours of sleep and coffee, coffee, coffee! (I.W.L: Oh god…) Oh shut up, Rachie. You with your sunflower seeds. So what if I gave them to you? IF I OWNED KINGDOM HEARTS THERE WOULD BE ENDLESS AMOUNTS OF DR PEPPER AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS DANGIT! (I.W.L: We realized neither of those things exist there… We're gonna diiiiieeee! X_X) Yes, we are. Enjoy reading that, folks! Byez! TIME TO GO GET COFFEE! =D**

**Both of Us: WE'VE GOT COFFEE!**

**Review! (I GOT ONE!):**

**Sakura Li-Chan: **

**I. Write. Love's reply: AHHHH YOU'RE SO LOYAAL! ;-; I love you forever! And ever! But yes, it was pretty awesome, wasn't it? Hahaa! Go read iSpazzeh14's story as well. Same title. She's writing it in her point of view, and since we're kinda co-writing the plot and what-not, you'll see us in each others story a lot.. Hahaha... Anyway. Thanks for the review~! Also, can you get my rum back from Riku plox? I really need some and Spazzeh won't let me steal it from Luxord ;-;**

**iSpazzeh14's reply: ****Yes, you must definitely read mine as well. Some things are slightly different, and you may have to read both to understand it completely. AND RAWR! Don't even talk about stealing from Luxord! =O**

**READ ON MY FRIENDS! AND REVIEW! DON'T FORGET TO ADD THIS TO YOUR ALERTS! GO READ ISPAZZEH'S! LOVE US! WE LOVE YOU!  
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**Chapter Two:**

A silence settled over us as we all stood, minds trying to comprehend what Cody had just said. In Kingdom Hearts? That made no sense whatsoever, and I wasn't even the one to say it! At least Cody had more of a grip on reality than I did.

I was about to comment when Paul's southern accent interrupted me. "You're meanin' to tell me that we're in that damn video game?" His voice was nothing less than sheer shock and confusion, something I could understand even if he had seen up until the final battle two times.

Cody nodded. "Yup. We're in Kingdom Hearts, as crazy as that sounds."

"Well, technically..." Alison interjected, "We're not in Kingdom Hearts, 'cause that's a completely different world, y'know?"

"She's gotta point," I smiled at Cody.

The brunette didn't seem to take to our humor very well. "Shut up, smartass. So we're in the _video game_-" He put way to much emphasis on those two words. "-and we're stuck here. What are we going to do?"

Alison and I met glances, the same smile creeping over our faces when we looked back to Cody and Paul. "KEYBLADES!"

They stared back at us in disbelief. "Are you ser-"

"QUICK! TO THE ARMORY! TALLY-HO!" Alison yelled, marching out of the room quickly, pumping her fist into the air. I followed behind, probably just a little to eager about the situation, but Cody and Paul refused to move.

"Uh, guys?" Paul said, making us stop and turn. "Do ya'll know where you're goin'?"

Alison looked defeated, and I looked up and around. "Well, we're in the Hall of Empty Melodies…" I mused, pointing to the way we were going. "So, that should, in theory, lead us to the very top of the castle… If I'm right."

"I don't think we should trust her gut instinct." Cody said, motioning toward the opposite way. "She had a feeling that there was going to be a zombie invasion one day when she woke up and nearly prepared for it at school." He smirked over at me. "I think we should go this way."

"You can't hold that against me!" I yelled. "It started off just like in my story! Also, no one's going to follow you. You could be just as wrong as me!"

"If we're wrong, than which way do we go?"

"Up, obviously!"

"How the hell are we going to do that?"

"Well, uh…" Dammit. He freaking won!

"If anything, we need to go down." Cody stated, emphasizing his pride by smirking down at me.

Alison was the next to speak. "He's got a point, Rachie. Armory's are usually in the basements of places…" She pointed toward were Cody was. "If my memory serves right, that's where we need to head."

I sulked, defeated and glared at Cody. "Fine, whatever. Lead the way, Ri-Ri."

He growled at the stupid nickname I had given him and started toward the entryway, Paul refusing to move. "Hey, what's wrong?" Cody asked, looking back.

"What about that guy in the hood?"

I frowned. "What about him?"

"What if we run into him? That dark whatever led us here, right? Maybe this is where he came from."

I exchanged glances with Cody. He had a point. Mr. Dark and Creepers' portal landed us right in the middle of the Organization's castle, meaning 1) he was a member of the Organization and 2) we were in their territory. Those chances didn't seem too good when I thought about them, and I worried about it if I voiced them. I shrugged it off since my brain was processing slower than usual and everyone else probably figured it out already.

"So, if we go down to the armory…" Alison smiled. "We'll have weapons. Powerful, magical weapons." Her smirk got dangerous and evil, making us all take a step back. "So, let's find this place and raid it. It'd be fun, right? Adventure?"

My ears perked up at the last word." Adventure?" I questioned, and she only nodded in response. "I'm in."

Cody crossed his arms. "Okay, so we're going down to the armory for powerful, magical, fun, adventurous weapons, or have I heard wrong?" His question wasn't exactly serious, but I could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Woo. We'll die in no time…"

Paul winced a little, no doubt uncomfortable at that opinion, and Alison motioned toward the door. "C'mon! Let's go!"

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It was more amazing than anything I had ever seen in my entire life. Weapons, upon weapons, upon weapons just laying there in a room, almost taunting us with their power. I swore I felt my jaw drop and Cody made a weird sound from next to me.

"This is going to be fun…" he chuckled, diving for the first thing he saw; Saix's Claymore, Lunatic. My face paled a little as I dove for it as well, grabbing it and keeping it out of his reach.

"This is a bad idea waiting to happen, Cody Hatton. Imagine how much shit we'd be in if you accidentally ruined the castle. I'm thinking that seven Organization members could take four teenagers down easily."

He let it go and returned it to it's place, my eyes then landing on Demyx's sitar, my heart skipping too many beats to count. Alison appeared somewhere next to me and picked up Axel's chakrams as Paul fiddled with Luxord's cards. I picked up the Arpeggio, holding it gingerly with stars in my eyes. "It's… It's like a dream come true…"

That dream was ended as Cody came over and snatched it out of my hands, plucking a string. "Hmm, it's tuned."

"Give it back!" I yelled, glaring daggers and atomic bombs at him.

He looked down at me. "If anyone should hold this, it should be me. I know how to play, after all."

My mood sunk to the floor and I pouted. He could play, and I had given up trying to learn guitar/bass years ago. With my heart broken, I sulked around and looked what was left of the cooler weapons; Marluxia's scythe, Xemnas' light sabers, Xaldin's lances… Then my hazel eyes traveled to Xigbar's arrow guns. A look crossed over my face only I would ever wish to see as I picked one up and turned to Cody, looking down the sight. "Give me back the sitar NOW."

He turned around with a scowl, but quickly put his hands up, the sitar attached to his back by a strap. "Whoa. Someone's trigger happy." He said, backing up a little to avoid the conflict that was rising. "I'm just kidding, by the way."

"Then give me the sitar." I demanded, watching with a smirk as he began to take it off, but Alison slapped me on the arm, causing me to squeeze the trigger and a laser to shoot out, Cody ducking almost too late as it skimmed his cheek.

"Dammit that hurt…" he cursed, glaring at the hole that was now formed in the wall. "That probably gave us away. We need to get out of here now."

Putting our weapons back in their respected places, we jogged toward the door when my eyes caught sight of the thirteen and fourteenth pillars, four Keyblades laid out with key chains next to them. My eyes widened and I gasped a little, Cody turning to look at me. "What?" He asked, then following my gaze he gasped as well. "Holy shi-"

We took tentative steps forward, picking up two of the same Kingdom Key, gingerly looking over them with interest before I picked up two key chains; Sora's crown in black and Kairi's Wayfinder seashell. Setting down my first Keyblade I took off the Hidden Mickey chain off and replacing it with the darker chain, and it changed in front of me, taking on a more skeleton, darker look, bat wings and the kanji for "darkness" formed by the teeth. I reached forward and picked it up, swinging it slightly as Cody gaped. "Whoa…" was all he could say, even as I made the Oblivion's lighter counterpart, Oathkeeper, from another Kingdom Key and the Wayfinder key chain. As I wielded my dual Keyblades, I saw Cody lunge for the Heartless symbol and attach it to his Keyblade, wolf whistling as it turned into Riku's Keyblade.

"Oh man I'm gonna love this!" he cheered, holding it up and dancing a little. "YES. Now I feel like Riku more than I did before!"

Paul didn't go for the last Keyblade, but Alison did, and she picked it up, shaking her head at the remaining key chains. "I think I'll hold true to being Xion and keep it like this." was all she had to say, and I put mine away, deciding not to risk drawing attention to the three newest Keyblade wielders. And why do they make a huge deal out of Sora being a wielder?

With our weapons set, we left the room, going back up the stairs we came from, but Cody's mind obviously wasn't going to leave our Keyblades to chance. "So, don't you guys find it weird we found the exact number of Keyblades we needed as well as the three key chains we needed as well?" he asked, hand lingering on the rail as he ascended.

"I'm not going to think about what sinister plans we've got forming in the Organization at the moment. I just want to get back home." I commented. "Not to mention, why wouldn't Xion have a second Keyblade around?"

"Why would she need another one?" Alison asked.

"In case hers broke…?" I wasn't too sure of my own answer, but I had to say something, right? "Not to mention, Keyblades are cool, so keeping an extra isn't a big deal."

Cody didn't feel like arguing from the sound of his sigh, and I think Alison was trying to process how my brain worked, but Paul was silent, still, probably lost in our conversation. When the stairs finally ended, we were in the first room of the castle, Nothing's Call. Looking around at the nearly all white room, I heard Cody wince from beside me and I knew we should get somewhere darker and less obvious. "C'mon, we should head down to the city."

"What?" Alison asked. "There's all sorts of Heartless down there; we'll get killed!"

I brought out Oathkeeper. "With these, I don't think so." She shrugged with an eye roll and we went out the exit, ignoring the Moogle and the circle of light that would most likely heal instead of save our game. The Brink of Despair held a chest, the only thing interesting to us, and inside was a potion that Alison decided to hold onto. Once we left the area, we found ourselves at Memory's Skyscraper, and Cody began to bounce around. "C'mon Rachell! We've got the Keyblades, let's have a fight like Riku and Roxas did!"

"Cody, that's stupid. They were doing inhuman flips and stuff off that skyscraper-" I pointed up to the building with the neon lights flashing and blinking. "and I am not going up there to flip and fall. You know I'm scared of heights!"

The brunette began to pout, and even in the fail lighting from the neon signs, I could tell that he was disappointed to not put himself ahead in our little tally game. With one last sigh, he gave up, and I nodded. "Right, now let's-"

"Watch out!" Cody grabbed my arm and pulled me back as a Neoshadow appeared, a dark puddle under it's feet that faded as the over-sized anorexic shadow twitched and looked at me with it's yellow orbs. As soon as I saw them, my head hurt as a image of viridian and silver flashed before my eyes, sparks from colliding Keyblades erupting as I closed my eyes. _'Why? Why are you fighting me?'_

"Rachell!" Cody yelled, shaking me as I snapped out of my weird trance, suddenly drawn back into reality. "Hey, this is a bad time to space out; we're surrounded!"

"Wha-" I looked around, nearly fainting when I saw the amount of Neoshadows around us, each of us, beside Paul, taking a fighting stance with our Keyblades. "Okay, our first fight!" I said, cheering a little at it, but quickly regretting losing focus as a Heartless jumped at me, my Keyblade barely reaching up fast enough to block as it's claws met my cheek. "Dammit!"

I pushed it back, watching it skid away from me, but two more took it's place, and I put away one Keyblade, holding out Oblivion without hesitation. "Bring it, bitch." I taunted, but I doubt they could even understand me. They understood the threat and bounded toward me, dark talons drawn and ready to add more scratches to my face, but they disappeared under the ground with a dark puddle, making me panic. _'Where did they go?' _I asked, looking around before I saw the puddle under my feet, barely moving away in time to get the claws cut straight through my blue jean's leg at the bottom. I growled and lunged for it, one swipe making it disappear in a cloud of dark smoke and a few orbs fell to the ground. Alison and Cody came over, obviously done with the few other Neoshadows and Paul reappeared from wherever he had been hiding. I picked up the yellow orbs, putting them in my pocket. "Munny!" I chimed happily.

Alison seemed to be busy checking out Cody's scratches as well as my own to care about the Munny I had gained. With the potion drawn out, she gently dabbed Cody's arm and my cheek with the greenish liquid. It stung like a bitch and I bit my tongue. "Oh shit that hurts." Cody growled, waving his arm to relieve the pain. "I'm not getting hurt here again, even if that stuff manages to heal the wounds fast."

I laughed at him and got a nudge in the ribs as we continued our travel in the city, passing by different Kingdom Hearts spots, pausing long enough to open chests and fight shadows, but letting nothing else get in our way. As soon as we were in the back alley at the beginning of the city, we found the swirly portal we recognized.

"If memory serves right…" Cody said slowly. "This is going to take us to the data Twilight Town…"

I looked at it. "I thought DiZ didn't make the portal until after Roxas was back with Sora, or whatever."

"Sora, Donald and Goofy were the one's who made it." Alison corrected us. "To get to the World that Never Was and save Kairi…" She frowned. "Why, I'll never freakin' know."

I laughed nervously as Cody stepped forward. "Well, it's not going to hurt to try. Not to mention, if we do end up in Twilight Town, we can compete in the Struggle competition!" He looked excited about the fight, and didn't hesitate to step through it.

"C-Cody!" I yelled, diving in after him, my eyes widening when I saw the Betwixt Between, shivering at the silence that settled in there. "Eek. Creeper than the game…"

Cody shrugged as Alison and Paul appeared a moment later, blinking at the brightness change. "C'mon." The brunette led the way again, straight forward to the other one, ignoring the vertigo we all probably felt from the turning ceiling and walls, making the entire place seem endless and confusing. I held my head as another flashback of red hair and green eyes flashed before my vision, tears staining tan cheeks and I muttered something I could barely comprehend; _'I… I love him…'_

Cody's hand brought me back, and I looked up into his chocolate eyes. "Hey, you first, okay?"

I looked to were he was motioning, and frowned. "Now why would I do that? There could be something on the other side that could kill me!"

"Yeah, but what happened to you 'being the hero'?" he asked, smugness making me scowl.

"Fine, I'll go first…" I turned toward the portal and took a breath, stepping through just as easily as I had the first time, only this time my foot hit the tiled floor of the basement's library's computer room and I smiled. It worked! Cody, Alison and Paul followed suit, and I smiled at the still working computer. "So, we weren't too late in the story line."

"Yeah, but we better get out of here before DiZ shows up." Alison said, leading the way as we left through the doors, walking up the stairs and going into the library, out into the entry way and into the courtyard. The place was still ruined, pillars smashed and ruined all over the grass, weeds overgrown and the gate open as well, but a group of seven arguing outside of it. We made our way about half way to the gate to hear better.

"You four are real lamers, aren't you?" a tall teen spoke, black beanie pulled over his hair as he held up a book away from a spiky haired blonde. "Can't even reach the damn book."

A short brunette girl frowned, green eyes soft. "Seifer, please give us the book back. We need to read it for the project…"

Seifer, at least that's what I assumed his name was, glared at the another blonde, his hair a bit dirtier and messier than the other, throwing the book at him. "Whatever. You losers go read that stupid book and loose the Struggle competition in four days. See if I care… Oh, I will though, because I'll win." He smirked, then motioned for a tall darker teen and a short silver haired girl to follow. "Rai, Fuu, we're leaving. See you later, lamers."

"Yeah, and don't even try praying for victory, y'know? Seifer's gonna win, y'know?" the taller one, Rai, said, his voice hitting every nerve in my body as annoying.

"Useless." Fuu had said, red eyes wandering over to us and widening. "Intruders."

Seven pairs of eyes met ours, and we all swallowed. Cody tensed up, Alison seemed to shrink behind me, I shifted my eyes nervously but Paul seemed calm about it, smiling and waving. "Howdy!"

"Get 'em." Seifer said, his eyes narrowed. "We don't like intruders here."

"Rumble." Fuu announced.

The dirty blonde growled. "Now hold on!" He yelled, getting up to Seifer's face. "What the hell? You don't even know them!"

"They need to know the rules, y'know?" Rai added.

"It's wrong to beat up random kids…" the brunette supplied.

"Yeah, what Olette said!"

"Then would you rather me beat you up, chickenwuss?" Seifer asked the blonde. "Figured not."

"Can't we solve this without violence, or something, Hayner?" a pudgy brunette asked, his eyes darting between the dirty blonde and us.

Hayner growled, then shoved Seifer away. "Go, now. We'll take care of them."

Seifer growled, then sent the entire group the finger before stalking off, Fuu and Rai following loyally. As soon as they were out of sight, his brown eyes met back over to us, face contorted in confusion. "Who are you guys?"

"I think you should introduce yourselves first…" Cody snapped, crossing his arms.

The dirty blonde growled. "I'm Hayner. This is Olette," He motioned toward the brunette girl. "Pence," A wave to the pudgy teen. "And Roxas," His arm went around the spiky blonde's shoulders, and my heart skipped too many beats again. "Now, who are you guys?"

"I'm Rachell," I introduced. "This is Cody, Alison and Paul," I said, pointing to each of them respectively.

"Odd names," Olette said. "You four must be from out of town. Where are you from?"

"Uh…" Alison and I looked to each other. "No one's heard of it."

Agreeing with our answer, Olette stopped, but Pence jumped in. "Are you here for the Struggle in a few days?"

"Yeah!" Cody and I chimed in, cheering. "Damn straight!"

Hayner smirked. "Well, not to brag, but I'm pretty good. I'd hate to fight one of you."

Cody snorted. "I'd hate for you to end up going to the hospital." He shrugged off the rest of his threat. "When are sign ups?"

"Now until the end of the day. You're lucky you showed up when you did. Tomorrow the prelims start, and then it would have been too late." Pence told us.

Roxas was still quiet, looking at me without falter. I broke the gaze myself and looked to Hayner. "Show us were these sign ups are?"

He smiled. "Follow me."


	3. Chapter 3

**I... I think I died... It's eight pages long... EIGHT PAGES LONG. Omg... -dies dies dies- I think I shall no longer live... x_x**

**NO ITS NINE? WHAAAAT? -dies more-**

**So, yeah, Spazzeh and I are at seperate houses again, but no worries! The story must go on! We continue writing! Weeee!**

**As I was texting my friend Cody (the same Cody in this story), he was complaining about me giving him the intelligence of a squirrel, so when he reads this to make him happy (I shouldn't even try =_=); Cody doesn't have the intelligence of a squirrel. While he might be fluffy and cute like a squirrel, he isn't only concerned with climbing trees and eating acorns. He likes other things, and actually, doing those two things seperatly or together has never crossed his mind. He is a smart person, and I was just making fun of him because I can and it's easy. Thank you. Also, Cody, I LOVE YOU!:D**

**And, Alison, I totally screwed this up. I made this chapter horribly long. ;-;**

**Okay, so I'm not sure if there was any reviews or not, but I'm too lazy to check, so I'll assume there wasn't and, I'm sorry if there was ;-;**

**Another note, before I go do the disclaimer. There is implied RikuRoku in my story like CRAZY. If you don't like it, I'm sooo sorry, but there's a reason and you'll learn of it eventually! I promise!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH. I don't own the characters, worlds, or the plot of the game. I do own the retardness that ensures in this story, however. This was my idea, after all.**

**Enjoy:D**

* * *

**Chapter Three:**

The pen was nearly unforgiving in my hand as I signed off my name, Rachell Davis, and passed the pen off to Cody, who followed suit. Alison was the last one to pen her name, then she turned quickly, her eyes unfocused for half a second before she smiled, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Okay, so now what?"

In all honesty, that phrase scared me beyond belief. After what we had gone through in the city, I was ready to just lay down and sleep for three days. I would be awake in time for the Struggle competition, granted if Cody woke me up or not, and I honestly needed it right now. That vision I had of silver and viridian as well as the sparks that weren't there… What did that all mean? And what was going on?

"How 'bout some practice?" I suggested, half-heartedly. I wanted to sleep, not fight.

Alison, unfortunately, nodded in agreement. "That certainly can't hurt."

"Practice?" Cody sounded eager but irritated at the same time. "You think we need practice?" I was ready to tune him out during his rant, but I decided to listen; he'd kill me if he knew I wasn't listening. "We just came through that city kicking ass! And not to mention those asses were Heart-Mmm. Mmm…. Mmmmmm mm mmmm!" I put my hand on his mouth, Alison along with me, just in time to keep him from revealing anything he wasn't supposed to. Paul and the others looked at us like we were going insane, but since we were already aware of this, we shook it off. In return, we can innocent smiles, and felt Cody's lips turn up against our hands, knowing he realized his mistake.

"Okay, then…" Pence hesitated at saying anything, his brown eyes shifting nervously between us.

Hayner, however, wasn't scared at us in anyway. "C'mon!" he demanded, motioning toward the Sandlot. "Let's find some Struggle bats! I wanna see what I'm gonna be up against!"

* * *

This wasn't a good idea, and I wished that Cody would listen to me more often than not. It was a bad idea to fight Alison because I saw the way she was looking at her arm, even before the fight started, and I knew that she was hurt. Only if she was hurt bad enough to effect her fighting was the question.

They were talking and fighting, something I didn't know was possible. Cody seemed to look like he would have the upper hand, but I knew Alison wasn't weak even if everyone else thought so. I felt that girl's punches and they weren't feather light. She could easily take Cody down, in my opinion, but I knew voicing that would have been a bad idea, especially since it seemed like everything could come back and bite me in the ass here.

Orbs were falling the most from Cody, and I sighed as Hayner and Pence cheered for more violence as Paul and Olette cheered for Alison over Cody. I put in my own, before my eyes caught sight of Roxas, who was sitting by himself a bench or two away. My eyes narrowed as I climbed over the back of ours and made my way over to him.

"You okay?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder, shocks running through my body and the way he reacted said the same. We jumped to separate, and before he could respond, Cody started yelling.

"Alison! Are you okay! Hey!"

When I looked back, Alison was falling back, then her body was still, Paul the first one up there beside Cody, shaking her lightly. "Aly! Aly! Baby, wake up!"

I ran up to the stage, jumping up to the raised ground and over to Alison, skidding to my knees beside her, picking up her wrist. "She's alive, just unconscious. We need to get her to a clinic right now."

"There's one down the street. We could take you there."

I looked up to the dirty blonde and nodded, then back down to her, my eyes finally landing on a crimson spot on her arm. My eyes narrowed. Sometimes I hate being wrong.

Before anyone else could react, Paul was carrying her in his arms, looking at Hayner with fire in his eyes. "Where's this clinic?"

Pence and Olette led the way, Hayner trailing behind to talk to Roxas, and I stopped almost momentarily to look at him. When our eyes met, my body felt the same as jelly, and it wasn't in the good way. My stomach sank and I looked away, jogging to catch up to the rest of them.

* * *

"Just put a freakin' potion thing on it!" Paul yelled, slamming his hands down on the counter, his teeth ground together as he glared at the nurse.

She wasn't going to give in, and she shook her head. "It's an inefficient way to heal a wound. The best we can do right now is wrap it and let her rest."

"Fine, whatever. What room is she getting?"

The look she gave us, the way her silver eyes shined with apology, made me want to punch her in the face. "We don't have a room for her here, so you would have to find her somewhere to stay."

Paul growled in frustration, but Roxas piped up, looking at me intently, switching his eyes to Alison. "She can stay at my house. It's really no problem if I stay with Hayner for a while, really. She needs to rest."

Her boyfriend looked to close to hugging the spiky haired boy. I smiled. "Are you sure? I mean, you just met us…"

"It's not a problem, I promise. Don't worry about it." He didn't seem like he was going to change his mind, so I dropped it, and motioned for Paul.

"Can you get her please?" I asked, and he nodded. "Roxas, do you mind showing us where your house is?"

He smiled, and nodded, leading the way to his house, which wasn't even as far as we all expected. Once into the dwelling, he shrugged. "Sorry it's a mess. My parents went out of town for the summer, so I've been home alone, and I'm a bit of a messy person."

We all nodded more or less with agreement, all our own variety of messy, then he showed us to his room, letting Paul put Alison down softly, covering her up with green sheet that he called a blanket. To the right of the bed there was a blue sphere with a fish circling it with slow circles, and a desk a little past that, a star flashing with neon even further. The star made me narrow my eyes at the familiarity of it as another memory flashed into my vision, one that made me blank for much longer than a second. I felt my legs give out, and I fell back and into Cody's arms.

"Rachell!"

* * *

_The star in the corner was the only light I had at the moment, my lamp turned out as I tossed in the bed, eyes escaping to the window, watching the moonshine in it's disappearing glory. My eyes softened at it, and I sighed, turning over to face a teen leaning against the wall. "How long have you been standing there?"_

"_I don't know," the silver haired intruder lied, tilting his head down as two black clothe strips fell forward. I frowned at the blindfold around his eyes. I wished I knew what color they were…. "I shouldn't be here…"_

_I downright glared at him, sitting up on my bed. "I know…" I lowered my blue eyes to the bed, my vision out of focus and blurry, wet stains following suit. I wiped my tears away, sniffling. "I know…"_

_He shocked me in the next second as he put one hand under my chin and the other at the back of my head, fingers entwining in my blonde hair. "It's okay, because… I'll stay as long as I can."_

_A hiccup erupted in my body and I reached around, pulling the tie of the blindfold off, letting it fall to my lap. Aquamarine. They were such a pretty viridian color, and I sighed, leaning to rest my forehead against his. "I wish that could be forever…"_

"_I wish so too…" His hand dropped to mine, squeezing lightly as we looked up at each other, eyes meeting in a clash. "I…"_

_I didn't want to hear it, and I leaned in, our lips getting closer…_

_

* * *

_

"Goddammit Rachell, wake up!"

I reached up and smacked him on the arm, Cody falling back with a pout frown, brown eyes looking at me with worry. "Jesus, stop YELLING." I told him, holding my head as pulses of pain jetted down my spine from the throb in my brain. "My head hurts…"

"Are you okay?" he asked, and I looked up, noticing no one else in the room beside us. "You were out for a whole ten minutes… The others rushed off to buy a potion or something."

I blinked, then shrugged, bringing my knees up to my chest. "I don't know… I've been having… these weird thoughts lately…"

"Sora moment, much?" he laughed, and I shot him a deadly glare.

"Beside the part about me quoting Sora, I really have… I've…" I didn't know how to describe it. But, this was Cody, and he had seen me at my worst. Maybe a crazy moment wouldn't sound so crazy after all. "It's like I've been seeing through someone else's eyes… I could have sworn I saw Riku just a moment ago… In my dream…" I looked over at him, expecting to see confusion, but he was calm. "And, I'm nearly positive I was… Roxas…"

"You were seeing through Roxas' eyes?"

I nodded. "I know, it sounds crazy beyond belief. Go ahead, make fun of me for it…" I said.

"Actually, I've been having the same problem."

My eyes widen as I looked over at him, my brown hair falling in my face a little, pushing it back. "You have…?"

He nodded. "When we were in the city, as soon as I looked at the skyscraper, I swore I could see myself up there, fighting someone, the sparks erupting, then a voice calling out for me to stop… It was so strange…" He leaned against the wall, sitting next to me. "Then when I saw Roxas, there were too many things that rushed into my brain all at once, but I felt this overwhelming sense of protection toward him… It was so strange…"

Cody's turn to turn to me. "I know, I sound stupid."

"No, because I know…" I smiled. "Hey, you wanna have a quick spar down at the Sandlot? We might have to fight during the Struggle."

He shrugged. "I guess. Preliminaries are tomorrow, so we better not hurt each other too much."

I smirked. "Like you'd hurt me that bad, right?"

"Depends if you want me to hold back."

I laughed as he helped me up, and we left the room, walking out into the hallway. Roxas was at the end, talking to someone on the other side of the front door, but he turned to us as we walked up. "Oh. You're awake, Rachell…" He waved at what I presumed to be Hayner, Pence and Olette. "We were worried you were hurt too."

"No. I'm fine." I smiled. "But Cody and I were about to go to the Sandlot to practice. Do you have an extra set of bats we could use?"

He nodded. "Yeah. They're custom, so I hope you don't mind." After disappearing into his room, he came back with two bats, both of them black with a checkerboard handle. "Hayner made them for me a while back, but I've never used them. They usually won't let me in the competition. At least now they'll be put to use."

We took them with a smile, and raced to the Sandlot, Hayner and Olette following us out of curiosity. As we skidded to a stop there, we groaned as a familiar blonde turned, smirking. "Well, if it isn't the out-of-towners. Never did get to introduce yourselves properly."

"Rachell." I spat. "And that's Cody."

Seifer smirked, then eyed our bats with a smug look. "You two were going to spar, weren't you?"

Cody shrugged. "So what if we were?"

"Instead of fighting the pipsqueak, why don't you fight me?" Seifer took a bat from Fuu, pointing it at Cody.

The brunette was going to say something, but I stepped up, fire in my eyes. "I'll fight you. Damn straight no one's getting away with calling me a pipsqueak."

He laughed. "I'll hurt you."

That set my last nerve to hell and I lunged, making a quick swipe at him, but it failed as he jumped back, further into the middle of the lot. "Whoa. Feisty midget, huh?"

"I am not a fucking midget!" I jumped toward him against, hitting him against the side and side stepping away, never lowering my weapon. I heard Rai's yells at Seifer of "making a move, y'know!" and Cody's "kick his ass, Rae!" screams. I smirked, dodging as he aimed for my arms then double back to hit my weapon, only to have me swerve out of his reach and block his attack with my bat, pushing him back. "I hope you aren't holding back." I smirked.

"Not even for a girl."

"Nice to know."

I dove at him, attack his arm, and rolling to grab his weapon that flew out of his hand. As he growled, I pointing it at him with a smug smirk on my face. "So, I guess I've won, huh?"

He took the bat from me, throwing it back to Rai. "Whatever, lamer. I'm not going to forget this. Come on, Rai, Fuu. We've got better things to do."

"Yeah! He's gonna get you back, y'know?"

"Petty victory."

The three of them left in a huff, and I turned to Cody, would was jogging toward me. "Rachell, that was awesome!"

"Thanks." I smiled.

He grinned. "How did you do that?" He asked, brown eyes slightly curious.

"Easy. Since he's taller and heavier, his attacks would take much longer to reach me. I could side step and attack faster because I'm lighter and… yeah, you know the other word."

"Shorter? Ah, admitting it, aren't we?"

I growled. "I am not short! And don't- Cody?" He came up close to me, my have buried right under his chin. "What the hell?"

"You're short!"

I pushed him off, and glared. "I am not!"

He motioned to his chin. "You come up to here! You're way short!"

"Make you're just freakishly tall!"

There was a small cough, and we turned to Roxas, who looked at us. "Ah, sorry, but I need to talk to Rachell… Is that okay?"

I frowned at the ask of permission; Cody wasn't my mom! He shrugged, though, and pushed me toward the blonde, making me growl. I followed Roxas to Market Street, where we leaned up against the wall by the accessory shop. "Why does it seem like we've met?" he asked, looking at me intently, no signs of looking away.

"I have no idea… Have we?" I asked, playing stupid.

"I feel like we have… But, I think I would remember if I met anyone named Rachell… It's not a common name, you know?"

I nodded, then he sighed. "And… when you touched my shoulder, sparks ran through out my body."

"Me too… This is too weird."

"It really is…"

Silence.

"I… I should probably take you back to Cody, huh?" he smiled. "You two seem to get along well."

I laughed. "You're humor is funny. Cody and I fight like a cat and dog. We never get along."

We walked back to the Sandlot, but the entire time I felt like there was someone watching…

* * *

The preliminaries were easy. In the end, Cody, Paul, Vivi, Seifer, Hayner, Roxas and I all made it through, but they wouldn't let Alison fight because she didn't participate. Talk about a real bummer.

Cody found out he had to fight Hayner, however, and sparks started flying. A rivalry was formed, and arguments between them started getting annoying and repetitive. More than once did they challenge each other to a Struggle battle, but Roxas and I managed to talk them out of it.

I had to fight Roxas in the competition, but we didn't turn it into a huge deal like Hayner and Cody. We just shrugged at it and cheered for them, choosing to ignore the possible loss.

Seifer and Paul were the last two during the competition, and also going to be the bloodiest, even before they fought. Throughout the entire prelims, they were shooting dirty looks at each other, even more so after they found out they would be next to each other on the bracket. It was driving Cody and I mad knowing that Paul would have to fight him, but we easily washed over those worries when we found out that Vivi's opponent was open. It was shocking that he made it through so far, and not Rai or Fuu, but another worry was cast aside. It didn't matter, and this couldn't turn out like the game, right?

Well, it was the day after that really shocked us. We all sat downstairs, playing video games in Roxas' living room. "Rachell, go check on Alison." Cody mumbled, titling in turn to the movement of his car on the screen.

"What? I did it last time!" I complained, ignoring the fact him and Paul were too into the game to care what I had to say.

"Well, I'm in the middle of something. Go check."

I stood and sent a small kick to Cody's side, walking silently down the hallway. The door had a small 'Roxas' painted on it in black, and I turned the knob, cracking the door open about an inch to look inside. When I saw Alison look over with a pained face my eyes widened. "ALISON!" I screeched, pushing the door back hard enough to rip it off the hinges. It slammed against the door and I rushed over to tackle her into a hug. "It's about damn time!"

I thought I heard her groan, but I got up and looked out into the hallway, looking down to the living room where Cody and Paul had matching looks of confusion. "Guys, she's awake!"

They fought over getting down the hallway first, pushing each other before getting to the doorway. Paul's eyes lit up and I stepped aside. "Baby!" He wrapped her in his arms, pressing his mouth to her forehead sweetly. " Are you all right?"

She glared a little, coughing to clear her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just wish people would stop yelling." She directed her glare to me, and I mouthed 'sorry'. "Wha-"

"What the hell?" Cody's yell interrupted, forgetting her head hurt, or the fact she just said to stop. Paul and I both glared at him, getting him to soften his voice to a whisper. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell us you were hurt?"

She looked at her arm, cursed silently then sighed a little. "I didn't want anyone to worry."

Wow. Really? "Well, you definitely failed at that," I told her, shaking my head slightly.

"Yeah… Sorry… Can someone explain, though, why I'm in Roxas' room?"

I decided to step up and speak, smiling. "Oh yeah. We took you to the clinic and they wrapped your arm. They refused to put a potion on it because that's an 'inefficient way to heal a wound.' But they told us that they didn't have room to keep you there, so Roxas offered to let you stay at his house and let you rest in his bed He said it would be no trouble and he could stay over at Hayner's while we all stayed here. I'm not sure why he was so insistent on it, though." I cursed myself for forgetting to ask him. "Offering his bed to a stranger…"

She didn't argue at all, and I continued. "But they said you had obviously passed out from loss of blood." I told her.

"How long had it been?"

"Sine what?"

"Since I passed out," she said in that voice that told me "did you really just ask that?". Well, so I was kinda blonde. Whatever.

"Oh, um… About that, uh… You kinda missed the preliminaries. They were yesterday…" She started to rub her temples, her whole demeanor changed from glad to be awake to disappointed. "We tried to explain to them why you couldn't fight until the actual battle, but they said 'due to your absence in the preliminaries you cannot compete.'" My skills to recall what these people had said was astounding lately. "Sorro." And stealing my cousin's words was starting to grow on me, as well.

"How many are in the competition." She asked.

"Only three didn't move on; you, Rai and Fuu." The fight that Fuu and Rai had fought was nice, but Fuu was no match against me. "Hayner, Roxas, Seifer, Cody, Paul and I are all in."

Cody piped up to continue. "Don't forget Vivi."

"Oh yeah. It's weird how he made it, but Seifer's other lackeys didn't…"

She threw the covers away. "Well, maybe I can go convince the promoter to give me a shot." As she stood, her footing faltered, and Paul caught her before she fell back.

"Maybe you should get somethin' to eat first," he suggest, and she nodded without argument, and we all headed into town.

* * *

After filling her in on what had happened yesterday, we all got pretzels and spent whatever Munny we got from those Heartless. I also told her about the argument that Cody and Hayner had (it was over a Struggle bat and me, no less), and she probably forgot it because of how ridiculous it was.

The Struggle promoter stood in the Sandlot, eyes focused on the tournament brackets for the first round, and I sighed at the fact Alison's name wasn't on the board. But, I had to applaud us on the timing. He turned as we began to walk up. I bit into my pretzel, deciding to keep my mouth shut until I needed to open it.

"Well, hello there! Are you three ready for tomorrow!"

Alison was the first to inform. "That's actually what we're here about."

"I don't recall seeing your face." The promoter looked at her, eyes narrowed in curiosity.

I guess I needed to talk. Cody would probably make things worse. "Mr. Promoter, sir? This is Alison," I motioned to her. "the one who didn't show up yesterday?"

"Ah, yes!" he smiled. "How can I help you?"

"I was actually wondering if there was any way that I could be added into the competition." She wasn't going to beat around the bush, it seemed. "I know I missed the preliminaries, but there must be _someway_ that I could show you that I belong in at least the first round."

"Well, I'm sorry, but…" Alison's shoulders slouched. "I'll tell you what: if you do me the favor of putting up posters in the Tram Common I'll add you in. There's an odd number of contestants anyway. Having an even number would make things much easier for me. Normally people would get paid for posting the signs, but seeing has how you need this more-"

Alison wasn't going to listen to him anyway. "I'll do it!" she exclaimed, and I was honestly scared of her face splitting open from her smile. "Just tell me where the posters are, and I'll get started a-sap!"

The promoter smiled and chuckled. "Well, all righty then!" He opened the metal door I had always wondered what it went to and opened the storeroom, nearly too many bats in there for me to count. When he finally handed over the posters, Alison dashed away to the common, leaving us behind to run after her.

"Alison!" I yelled, even after she hopped on the skateboard and left us behind.

"Dammit Alison!" Cody yelled, running even faster as Paul followed him, I being last, my vision hazy as I swore I saw Riku instead of Cody. _'Don't leave me!'_ What in the hell?

"Wait! Tell her that the boards with the diamonds are where she needs to hang the signs!" the promoter yelled at me, and I turned to give him a thumbs up, racing to catch up with the others.

She had stopped at the candy shop, and I was last to run up with the news the promoter had told me, and she wasted no time hopping back on the skateboard and posting the signs, finishing in record speed. When she stopped back in front of us, the Struggle promoter was striding up to us. "Thanks for your help! I'll be sure to add you into the tournament. And here," he placed Munny into her hand, and I counted it all before she slipped it into her pocket. One-fifty? "just a little extra for the extra work that you did."

She looked up from her palm. "I can't accept this." She went to hand it back, but Cody nudged her in the ribs, the look on his face one that screamed pretzels and ice cream.

"Please, it's my pleasure." She sighed, put the Munny in her pocket as the promoter turned to leave. I squealed with joy, my vision still a little hazy from my flashback earlier, and she smiled.

Roxas and the others ran up to us in a matter of moments, their faces all downcast. "Hey guys, is something wrong?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

"Yeah…" Roxas said, and Alison looked a little shocked. "One of our friend's shops has been robbed. It's completely ruined."

"What shop?" Alison asked.

"The armor shop," Olette said, her eyes worried.

"But that's impossible. We were just over there, not too long ago…"

Roxas just offered a shrug.

Cody crossed his arms. "What'd they take?"

"Just some _." Roxas gasped, hands flying to his throat."

Paul quirked an eyebrow, confused. "Some what?"

Hayner glared at Roxas. "Some _."

"C'mon guys," Pence sighed. "Stop fooling around and just tell them they stole the _."

"What the fuck?" I asked, completely confused.

Alison gasped herself. "Wait… They didn't step _, did they?" She sighed. "So, they didn't just steal the _, but the word, too… Is this sounding familiar to anyone else?"

I nodded, probably too eager. "Oh yeah! Just like in the g-" Alison's hand was over my mouth in a heartbeat, and my eyes screamed apology.

"Hey! Lamers! Where is it?"

Dammit. Crappy timing, jackass.

"Where is what, Seifer?" Alison asked, obviously acting innocent, but I'm glad her hand left my mouth. I frowned.

"You know very well, Thief!" I know you and your friends took the _! Hand it over!"

"Yeah, you're the only ones who would take it, y'know!"

Cody growled. "We didn't take anything!"

"Bull!" Seifer yelled, pointing at Roxas. "It was undeniable proof that we totally owned your precious lamer, Roxas!" It was strange how defensive my brain suddenly got, like I was the only who got defeated. I could have sworn I saw flashbacks stream into my mind.

"Screw off!" Alison yelled. I would have chosen another word, but that works, too.

"Nice comeback, emo." Seifer chuckled, making Alison growl under her breathe. I'm pretty sure I was, too.

"So what did you do? Burn it? Ha. Not that we need some _ to prove that you're losers."

"Replay," Fuu commented, her eyes never leaving mine, and her one word sentences getting to me.

Seifer laughed, like it was needed. "Now you're talking!" They looked ready to fight. "I guess if you get down on your hands and knees MAYBE I'll let it slide."

"No way!" Paul yelled at him.

I decided to back him up, even if the thought was going through my brain. "It's not gonna do you any good, Seifer. You're waaaaaaay too outnumbered."

"You think I give a damn?" He looked around at us, then scoffed. "Uhn… Whatever. We're outta here." He turned and walked away, Fuu and Rai following behind him like his pets.

I turned to the rest of them, "We have to get all those _ back to clear our names." I told them.

"So, all we have to do…" Cody was thinking out loud again, and he smirked. "Is take a _, right? Then the D-… Thief will take that one, too?"

Alison smiled at him, nodding. "Right."

"Good idea," Olette pulled a camera out of her back pocket, holding it up to take the picture, but Alison stopped her.

"Roxas, you need to be in it."

Oh right. I felt stupid for not remembering about that.

"Why?" he looked confused.

"Just…" Alison frowned. "Get over here."

Hayner pushed him toward us, and he took a spot next to me, making sure we didn't touch. Olette held up the camera and pressed the button down, the flash blinding, but a paper flopping out of the front. Before she could take it out, a flash of silver stunned us, and the found thief paused, looking back to us, and then slinked away. "Hurry!" Alison yelled,. "To the mansion!" We took off after it, leaving Hayner, Pence and Olette behind.

It was at the old gate, where we had first found Hayner and the others. Roxas charged forward, and just as Cody and Paul were too, Alison caught them and pulled them back. "Wait. Roxas has to do this," she said in a low voice.

The fight was seemingly one sided, and watching it brought more memories to my mind with more silver, aquamarine and sparks, voices claiming love, and then Dusks attacking… I shook the pictures from my mind, Cody looking over with worry.

"It's no use..." I heard Roxas mutter over the pounding of my head. There was a weird flash of light and what was once a Struggle bat was now a Kingdom Key, making me wonder how it was possible if we had the four from the Organization. Goes to tell you why I wonder why they make a big deal about Sora being a Keyblade wielder. In a matter of moments, the creature was gone, and the photos floated down to the ground. Woot! The word was back!

"What was that thing?" he asked us, but we all offered a shrug, helping him collect the photos, and finding the three others waiting for us back at the common.

"Look! They found the photos!" Olette exclaimed, gasping when she said the word 'photo'.

Pence smiled. "Hey, you just photos!" He was pointing out the obvious again. Why was he in the game in the first place?

"Well," Alison was going to explain. "I guess we should go return this one to Seifer. At least, I'm assuming this is the one they were talking about." She held up a slip of paper that showed Roxas lying on the ground with Seifer standing over him with a proud look on his face. I had the urge to rip it out of her hand.

"Has anyone else noticed how these are all of Roxas?" I knew why!

"Oh, yeah. I noticed that, too." And I know why!

"It's not wonder they thought they stole them!" Yeah, whatever! Know I know who really wanted them!

Alison and I exchanged glances and smiled nervously. "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaahh, weird…"

* * *

"How about, after I win the competition, we all go to the beach together?" Hayner asked, so sure of his victory, but Cody snorted.

We all agreed.

"But we have that project to do for school. We have to get it done before the end of summer, which is only in a few days." Olette reminded him, like they really needed to be reminded of homework before the Struggle.

"Oh… Yeah…" He sulked down, making Cody grin smugly.

She turned to us next. "What do you all plan on doing for your project?" She asked, innocently.

"Oh, w-well, we.." Quick! Say something! "We haven't given much thought to that." Smooth.

"Well, would you mind helping us with ours?" Pence asked, smiling at us. "Maybe something we do will give you guys some ideas."

I nodded along with Alison, but caught sight of Cody and Paul's shoulders sagging at the mention of homework.

Hayner growled. "Can't we talk about this after the competition?" he complained, looking at us all. "C'mon! I don't want to be thinking about homework while I'm fighting!"

With a nodded, the agreement was set.

A few hours later (a few fast hours, might I add), we stood in the Sandlot, the crowd cheering and talking among themselves. We had stirred up quite a lot of rumors, apparently, and we all had a fair chance. Setzer introduced, and every girl in the lot (beside Alison and Olette, because I secretly fangirled) swooned over him. I knew Alison had rolled her eyes.

The first combatants were announced within the minutes: Cody and Hayner.

The dirty blonde turned to us and smiled. "Wish me luck." He told us.

"Yeah, you're going to need it." Cody mumbled under his breath and I elbowed him in the side. Daggers were shot between them, and they raced up to the arena. I held my breath.

"Ready?"

Oh, please win, Cody.

"STRUGGLE!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, this was extremely delayed because FFN wouldn't let me update my Kingdom Hearts stories for almost two weeks. Why, I don't know, and honestly I really don't care because now I can. WOOT.**

**On other news... iSpazzeh (Alison) made sea-salt ice cream and drove to my house and gave me some earlier:D It was blue and shaped just like the ice cream in the game. I so felt like Roxas when I ate that!:D Although I only ate half of the ice cream because it made me feel kinda sick:P It's all good homie, cuz I saved it :) **

**Anyway...**

**This FAILS because I fail at fight scenes epically. The ending it nice, and letting Paul beat the shit out of Seifer was LOL. Cody's probably gonna have SOMETHING to say about his fight with Hayner (IGNORED), but I think Alison and I's fights went well:3 **

**I ALSO GOT A DS AND I GOT 358/2DAYS AND IM IN LOVE WITH IT... Although I wish you could play as Xion in Mission Mode... The rest of them are completely useless ('cept Axel and Roxas, 'course!)**

**ONTO THE STORY ALREADY.**

**Review Time:**

**Sakura Li-chan: 1) I am so sorry I never replied to your review. I got kinda lazy, y'know? I really didn't feel like doing much of anything the day I uploaded chapter three (well, it was TEN PAGES LONG ON WORD). Sooooo. I SORRO! Um, about the KH fanfiction; go check my profile? I have a couple of one shots, I think (RiSo, Seiner- which is Seifer/Hayner- and I think there might be some Ouran High School Host Club if you're into that...), and I might be uploading some RikuRoku soon! Hopefully hopefully! I lost Riku ._. Sneaky bastard escaped from me! Thank you for your reviews, oh lovely one! **

**iSpazzeh14: SHUDDUP ABOUT THE GRAMMAR. JEEZ. I WAS VERY TIRED, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW. IT WAS LIKE ONE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, KTHNX. No. Taking more time would equal more effort would equal Rachell back on caffeine. Do you want such things to happen? No? Good. Thought not (completely unaware you're not answering these questions right now). But, yeah... It's not going fast, really... That RoyEd story I wrote last year went fast, 'kay? THAT'S what we base "fast" off of, mkay? And thanks for reviewing:D I have yet to do the same for your story... XD  
**

**LostMySightToTheLight: First off, thank you for reviewing on like, EVERY ONE of my KH stories! It's awesome!:D Second off, awesome name, fa'sho! And thirdly, getting to your review; It really is, isn't it? Though I have to say, if this really happened to Alison, Cody, Paul and I, Paul would be flipping, I would be flipping, Cody would be destroying things and Alison would be flipping as well. We wouldn't be able to stay this calm if that happened XD Umm... Possible romance between Cody and I? Nawww. We're like brother and sister, y'know?:) RikuRoku is an amazing couple, yo! And it will make sense, I guess, as time goes on. Couple=NO. XD But thank you for your review! It is much appreciated!**

**So, if you stalk me around on my profile here, you'll see that I'll be um, posting some Left4Dead fanfiction soon -hides face- I've gotten completely addicted to NickXEllis while I was playing the second one... I JUST CAN'T HELP IT. IT JUST SO MOE! -Renge moment- ITS SO ADORABLE, I COULD EAT THREE JARS OF NUTELLA AND SIX LOAVES OF BREAD! -peace sign- But, yeah. If you people know what I'm talking about, just stalk around on my profile and find it whenever I write it... It'll be eventually, I guess. **

**Disclaimers (FINALLY): AND IF I OWNED KINGDOM HEARTS, FOREVER WOULD IT BE KNOWN THAT KAIRI WOULD NOT HAVE EXISTED. The end.**

**Enjoy:D  
**

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

"STRUGGLE!"

The word rang in my ears as Cody and Hayner lunged for each other, bats colliding with a hollow "think" as both struggled (how original) to gain the upper hand. "G-Give up…" Hayner was saying, getting pushed back a little farther, sweat already falling down his face. "I'm gonna win…"

Cody snorted, giving the blonde one last push and managing to steal a couple of orbs. "You only wish, blondie!"

His opponent wasn't feeling up to the taunts and lunged again, swiping at the brunette, and hitting the edge of the shoulder, four orbs going into his possession. I held my breath as it continued like that, quick attacks, slow dodges and even quicker passes, orbs falling to both of them, and neither gaining much control. _'Cody, come on…!'_

"C'mon Riku! Stop being such a wimp and fight him already!" I yelled, not even realizing what I had said. Roxas looked over at me with wide eyes and I caught them as well, the telepathy passing through just the look alone. His shock was enough to say 'what was that?' I smiled at him "A pet name…" I nervously said, scratching the back of my head. The blonde looked bought, and then turned his attention to the fight, though I think it was elsewhere.

"Dammit!"

That cry made my head whip around in a heartbeat, hands clutching my jeans for dear life. Cody fell back, bat raised slightly as his chest rose and fell, Hayner over him with a smug look on his face. Hayner was going to win! "So couldn't stay true to your talk." The blonde turned, his biggest mistake. "There's not enough time left on the clock for you to-"

Cody lunged at him, making on large swipe at his back and earning ten orbs, which successfully put him ahead one point just as the timer buzzed for the end of the match. Hayner fell forward on his hands and knees, mumbling incoherent babble about his loss while Cody smirked over at us. As soon as he stepped down from the arena, I jumped at him, wrapping my arms around his neck in an embrace. "You did it! You won!"

He held onto my middle and lowered me down, not at all phased by it. "Of course I did! I wasn't going to lose to a blonde!" Our eyes met and his eyebrow quirked. "You thought I was gonna lose!"

"Only at the end! Promise!" I said, just as the announcer came back up.

"The next match; Rachell versus Roxas!"

I looked over at the blonde, who gave a weak smile, and returned it. "Good luck Rachell!" Alison cheered, high fiving me as Paul gave me a knuckle touch.

"Yeah! Kick some ass!"

"Show Roxas who's boss!"

I picked up a bat and headed into the lot, facing Roxas without hesitation. "No hard feelings, right?" I held out my hand.

He took it with a wide smile. "Nope. This isn't gonna change a thing."

Without a shocking spark when we touched, we shook and went to our separate corners, taking our fighting stances. The fire lit in both of our eyes as the announcer's final count ended. "STRUGGLE!"

He didn't lunge right away, but ran toward me, skidding to a stop and side stepping out of my line of vision, making me spin and turn to keep up. Dizziness was setting in, and I stopped finally learning his motives; he was going to circle me and run me into incoherency. I smirked. I wasn't going to fall for it.

As I heard him behind me, I turned, blocking it effortlessly and pushing him back to a comfortable distance. He scowled and held the bat up. I heard cheers from the sidelines and I smiled. The timer was reaching its final minute. I had to move.

Roxas did instead, going bold and trying to attack me directly. Blocking the attacks, I side stepped to an open area and swung, earning a few orbs, which put me ahead. He growled and turned to attack again, only to have a new handful of orbs in my possession. With one last swing, he tried, and got two for himself as the timer rang.

"The winner… Rachell!"

I let out the held breath I had, looking over at Roxas as he panted, trying to catch his own breath. Alison ran up to me and nearly tackled me, Cody doing the same. Paul congratulated me, as well as Olette, Pence and Hayner, Roxas shaking my hand again to show a job well done. The next battle was announced and we wished Alison good luck.

"I'm not sure how it happened, but Vivi versus Alison!"

The count sounded and they lunged, all powerful swings and attacks, quick and fluid movements, making sure to cover all flaws and openings to eliminate mistakes. So far no orbs had fallen, and it seemed it would be a draw, but Vivi left his right side opened after a hard attack, and Alison lunged, skimming his brown jacket type shirt and earning an orb. She gained control as Vivi attacked with even harder attacks than before, Alison blocking with faltering power. "Come on baby! Kick his ass!" Paul yelled, but I heard Seifer's yell from the other side of the lot as well.

"Come on, Vivi! Kick that emo's ass into the dust!"

Alison must have heard it because in that quick second she pushed Vivi back and gave a hard swipe, earning five orbs and control of the match. Vivi nearly attacked just as the buzzer rang, and he walked off without any last words.

"TAKE THAT SEIFER! WE'RE WAY BETTER THAN YOU AND YOUR LOSER FRIENDS!" Hayner yelled, pointing and laughing at him.

"Watch it, chicken shit." Seifer smirked. "I'm next and I'm facing the hick." He pointed his Struggle bat at Paul, who stared back with fire. "Let's see how good you are. It was merely chance that the two stupid brunettes and your emo girlfriend made it this far."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING STUPID!" Cody and I yelled, fist raised. "Come over here and we'll show you stupid!"

Seifer snorted and put the bat over his shoulder and motioned for Paul, "The break is going to be over soon and then we'll have to fight. Hope I don't hurt you too bad…"

"Like wise, jackass." Paul snapped, picking up a bat himself and going to the arena just as the rest of the fans filed in with the announcer.

"The next match is between Seifer and Paul. Ready?"

They looked ready to kill each other, and it was proven when they lunged toward each other as the announcer called it. Paul and Seifer were evenly matched, swinging and blocking and dodging as the seconds ticked down. Seifer hit Paul's stomach, Paul got Seifer's face, and orbs were falling everywhere, although I had a feeling they didn't care. The last minute was in. Paul stabbed at the blonde, right in the guy, and Seifer countered with a strong swing to the head, hitting his ear hard.

"Dammit, you bastard!" Paul yelled, throwing his bat to the side and charging at Seifer. The blonde did the same, and before anyone knew it, they were fist fighting, orbs and the Struggle long forgot. Stomach, face, throat, arms; nothing was left unbruised as Rai and Cody finally pulled them apart.

"Umm…" the announcer was at a loss for words. "I… uh… They're both disqualified!"

* * *

"DAMMIT I'M TELLING YOU I'M FINE!"

Paul wiggled out of the nurse's grip, glaring at her as she attempted to put a bandage on his arm, where a nasty gash had formed. Alison slapped him upside the head and growled. The cowboy instantly calmed down and let the nurse do her job, flinching at the sting from the medicine.

I sighed at him and turned to walk out with Cody when I heard another familiar yell. "Dammit don't put that shit on my arm!" I walked down the hallway and stopped in front of another room, Seifer's blonde hair uncovered and messy as his face sported a band-aid over his nose and another one on his cheek. His icy eyes glared at his nurse then turned toward Cody and I. "Oh, well if it isn't the lamers."

"Shit up. We came to see if you're okay." Cody snapped, brown eyes narrowed.

Seifer snorted and looked away. "Why in the hell would you care? It's obvious you guys are going to win."

"Because it's called sportsmanship." I told him, making him look over in surprise. "I can get competetive, but if someone gets hurt like you and Paul have, I'm going to drop the competition and see if you're okay." He looked away with his eyes narrowed, and I did the same. "Fine, whatever."

I turned to walk out, but his voice, softer than usual, stopped me, "Good luck, Rachell… Hope you can beat Setzer."

I smiled at walked back to Paul's room, Cody trailing behind me. "So what's going on?" I asked Alison.

"He's been disqualified, and I'm staying here with him." She told me, readjusting the bandage around his head.

"So much for our hard work getting you in…" I complained.

She smiled sarcastically. "Yeah, your hard work. You and Cody need to go out there and show Setzer who's the real Struggle champion, okay?"

Cody nodded eagerly then grabbed my hand. "Come on, we gotta go get back to the Sandlot!"

* * *

By the time we got there, Vivi was ready for his fight against Cody and the gang was waiting on the sidelines. "Hey, is Paul okay?" Olette asked as I sat down next to her.

"Yeah. Nothing too bad." I told her with a smile. "He'll be fine."

"I was sure Alison went ahead…" Hayner commented, looking over at me. "Where is she?"

"Back at the clinic with Paul. She dropped out."

"Oh…" the blonde looked disappointed. "I was hoping she'd beat the crap out of Cody…"

I laughed nervously as the sound of footsteps caught my attention. Seifer was walking up with a look on his face and when he caught my eye, he turned away with red cheeks. What? He took his spot next to Rai and Fuu as I heard more footsteps. Paul and Alison were next to walk up, Paul wincing painfully. "That damn asshole made me sprain my ankle…" He mumbled angrily.

The announcer yelled the final count and the two boys lunged for each other, Vivi taking the offensive and Cody the defensive. It seemed as close as when Alison fought Vivi, but Cody quickly took the upper hand. With a few full swings he earned ten orbs and put himself ahead. Vivi growled a little and Cody stepped back. "What…?"

Everything stopped. The fans cheering in the sidelines seemed to freeze in place as I looked around. The only people who were moving were Alison, Cody, Paul and I, Vivi swaying back and forth like….

"A Dusk!"

Just as I yelled that, the form rippled in to the silver creature, hissing at us and swaying. Cody jumped back, bringing out his Keyblade. "Dammit. Just like the game!"

We all pulled out our blades, Paul staying back by Alison to avoid getting hurt anymore. The Dusk lunged at us and we took it down easily as well as the other two or three. When we stood alone, only the sound of our breathing echoing off the lot's closure, there was a steady clapping.

"Alright guys. Fight, fight, fight."

Alison and I probably turned the fastest to see a hooded figure, something Paul shrunk away from. Cody eyed us as our eyes widened. The man stopped in front of us.

"Who are you?" Paul snapped, standing by Alison and I.

The man stopped, and then raised his hands to his hood, pulling it back to reveal red hair and green eyes, black teardrop tattoos on his tan cheeks. "How rude of me. Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Alison and I fainted.


	5. Chapter 5

**OMIGAWD. I finished this in a daaaaaaay -hearts hearts hearts- And I get to put my favorite (second favorite) Kingdom Hearts 2 character in: AXEL! Not to mention random (MANY RANDOM) flashback visions and a fight between Cody and I! All in a good day's work, ya?**

**On other news.**

**358/2 Days is freakin' beast. Not gonna lie. I also beat Portal in two hours the other day. That game is freakin' sweet. If you have a computer/XBox 360/PS3, go get the Orange Box and play it. PLAY IT NOW. Then tell me if the cake is a lie or not. And if you're still alive... And if the companion cube is NOT you're best friend.**

**ANYWAY.**

**Reeeview:**

**LostMySighToTheLight: I love Axel too! -smacks random person- Feel free to fangirl spazz nao:D I make you smile sunshine? AWYEAAA. I try to respond to everyone's reviews because I love you all! And if I don't, I guess I'll go throw myself into the Aperature Science oven thing (Portal refrence). Anyway... Seifer did go blushy but... Idk about possibilities there... I love him, yes, but I dunno...**

**Sakura Li-chan: Your review failed -hearts- Anyway. YES AXEL I KNOW. It's awesome, right?**

**iSpazzeh: Review, bitch.  
**

**To Everyone Who Read But Didn't Review: DAMMIT REVIEW.**

**Disclaimers: If I owned Kingdom Hearts... Well, I definetly wouldn't be a normal teenage girl, now would I?**

**I don't remember who got it back for me, but I gotz rum! -ROMNOMNOMNOMNOM-**

**(-off screen- ~Sings Loudly~_ "While you're dying I'll be still alive! And when you're dead I will be still alive. ...!"_)**

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

Emerald jewels stared us down, taking time to look at each of us before they wandered to lock onto my hazel eyes, another vision creeping into my mind in a haze: _A sharp point at someone's throat, tears clouding my vision as I reached out my hand in protest. "Axel! No!"_

Axel seemed about as unfocused as me before he closed his eyes and opened them, smirk curling up the sides of his mouth. "So, you're the four Xemnas has been going absolutely crazy about… The four teens who connected an otherwise unknown world." He smiled. "Pretty normal looking bunch, if you asked me."

Alison, Cody and I drew out our Keyblades, making him take a step back. "We're not _normal_." Alison said, never leaving Paul's side as Cody and I prepared to take the offensive.

The pyro eyed us carefully, then looking down he rubbed the back of his head. "You guys have to go with a fight? I'm not really up to it…"

"We ain't goin' anywhere." Paul said.

"Oh, I think I can arrange that…" Axel smirked, and in a flurry of flames, he held his chakrams, twirling them slightly as he smiled at us. "Well? Still up for fighting?"

Cody laughed, mocking him. "A little fire never scared me!" He pulled his Keyblade down as he ran, charging at Axel, but skidding to a stop and falling as a wall of flame appeared. "Hey!"

"_Not scared, _huh?" the redhead asked as the fire died down and Cody shuffled away. "If you were **really **him, you'd charge through without hesitation."

"_Him_?" I asked, interest instantly roused. Who is he talking about? "Who in the hell-?"

"Well," Cody growled. "I'm not _him_, so I'm not going to charge through the damn flame wall and get killed, thanks." His brown eyes filled with fire of their own. "Whoever _he _is, of course."

Axel smirked, face dangerously dark. "Don't like the comparison, huh? _He _never did either… But whether you're like him or not, you're not standing between me and her anymore." His gaze shifted to me and he pointed as well.

"Huh?" I choked out, my Keyblade suddenly heavier (although my mind might have been screwing with me). My eyes met the pyro's.

Cody snorted. "Yeah right. I'd like to see you try-"

Before the brunette's sentence was out, Axel punched his stomach harder than I had kicked it back at Alison's house, then brought his elbow into the back of his neck, successfully knocking him out. "Cody!" Alison yelled.

I looked up at Axel. "What-?"

"Dammit!" Paul shouted behind me. "Wait 'till I get my hand on ya-"

"You're in no condition to fight, Paul!" his girlfriend urged him back.

Axel chuckled, drawing my attention back to him. "I'd listen to her, Paul. I can't be sure if I could hold back enough to not kill you." Paul stopped struggling. The pyro turned back to me. "Now, you. I have a question…" His chakrams disappeared. "Does the number thirteen mean anything to you? Or what about the Organization?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied, eyes narrowing. It's sad that in a moment like this, my mind can't stop thinking about how damn hot he is… "It's just a number and a name."

Axel shook his head. "You do, Rachell…." How did he know my name? "You know the importance of both of those things." He stepped closer to me, but I wasn't backing down. No way in hell. "You _know _what they mean."

"No, I don't!"

He took out a chakram and held it up to my neck. My mind immediately started to panic (damn fear of sharp objects), but I didn't move. My pride wouldn't let me. "You do! You have to!" He yelled, looking down and away. "You have to because he doesn't…"

'_Roxas…'_ His eyes looked sad. "I… I don't…"

He growled and tried for a swipe at me, eyes suddenly full of rage. "Then I'll beat it into you!" I blocked his next few attacks, struggling more than I had against Seifer, but if I lost… If I lost, Cody, Alison and Paul wouldn't know what to do without their hero! I had to beat him, for Roxas, for Alison, for Paul…

For Cody.

I pushed the pyro back, adrenaline pumping through my body, fueling my strength and movement, like that four-letter word added energy to my fight. What? "I think that I'll have to beat it into you!"

He smiled. "Feisty. Just like him…"

I lunged, Keyblade hitting the chakram, sparks shooting out. "Don't… say that…!" I pushed him back, shuffling away to a comfortable distance. "Whoever _he_ is, I'm not like him! And neither is Cody!"

"The _he _I'm comparing you to is a different person than the one I'm comparing your friend Cody to." He spun a chakram. "You remind me of another. Of the thirteenth member of the Organization."

I snorted. "Oh really now…" I gripped my Keyblade tighter. Alison and Paul were silent. "Enough talk. More fight."

He wasted no time lunging for me, aiming a fireball, but I blocked it carefully, getting a small burn on my arm. While I was distracted with the fire, he made a swipe at my legs, successfully slicing a line across the knees. I felt a sting of open air. He's _not _playing, and I suddenly felt the serious tone of the fight. Either I was going to win or I was going to die.

I blocked the next two attacks, then dodge rolled (how, I'll never know), and aimed for his side, hitting my Keyblade against his rib cage. He fell on his hands and knees, holding his side painfully. So maybe I was stronger than I thought.

"How…" he wheezed. Did I knock the breath out of him? "How do you…"

"I'm fast." I bragged, smirking in victory. "Can't keep up?"

He shook his head, looking up with green eyes, meeting my gaze. "How do you have the Keyblade?"

I stopped and it seemed the whole world did, too. I hadn't given much thought to it, save for right after I got it, and now it seemed to nag away at my brain: _'How __**do **__you have the Keyblade?' _I swallowed softly, then shrugged with a look on my face. "I… I don't know…"

He looked at my Keyblade- Oathkeeper- then sighed. "_He _had that Keyblade…"

My eyes widened. "_He…_" Roxas? Was he talking about Roxas? "Who are you…?"

"Well, congratulations, kid." Axel simply smiled. "Maybe you _will _be able to stop them…"

I stepped forward. He wasn't making any sense! Even for someone who had played the game! "Stop who?"

"I know you're confused, but you've got brains like him… You'll figure it out. But, even though this is the first time we've met…" A dark portal formed behind him as he stood. "I feel like I've seen you before… Also, you're welcome."

"Wait- What?" Alison asked behind me.

Then he was gone. As soon as the dark portal disappeared, Alison and I both looked to our Keyblades as a eerie feeling settled over us. Why would he say that? I looked up and stared straight ahead as time came back to. Everyone seemed to cheer as I stood there awkwardly, Cody rising up next to him and rubbing the back of his neck. The real Vivi looked around in a confused manner before walking off as Cody finally voiced his complaints. "What happened…?"

"Axel knocked you out." I told him with a slight smile. "But I think we're…"

"After our short break, the next fight is Rachell versus Cody!"

We exchanged a glance.

* * *

"I honestly don't know…" I told Alison and Cody, letting them treat my cut knees and burned arm with a potion. "He knocked you out, then talked to me about the _thirteenth member of the Organization_ and about the Keyblades…" Paul looked slightly confused from his place by Alison, but less so than a few days ago. Cody tilted his head slightly.

"What did you tell him?" He asked, wrapping my knee in bandage.

I sighed and shrugged. "I told him I didn't know…" I looked at my hand. "But, how **do** we have Keyblades? I mean, we're not weilders, are we?"

"From what I've seen…" Paul said. "You ain't like that Sora kid. Maybe y'all have 'em by an off chance?"

The fact he remembered Sora's name was a shock within itself. "Maybe…" Alison mused silently. "Well, your fight's coming up. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah. Hopefully Cody will go easy on me." I laughed nervously, pushing him slightly. He went up ahead with Alison and Paul as I let them lead the way, stopping to look over my shoulder as a black figure disappeared around the corner. I frowned.

What was that?

* * *

Cody smirked, Struggle bat held out to me, my own bat at my side as I prepared for a fight. This is what it came down to, this is what decided who would fight Setzer, who would be the new Struggle champ. Who would have all the pride…

"STRUGGLE!"

Cody and I both lunged, our bats meeting midway with a 'thunk', our advances at gaining control evenly matched and seemingly futile. I discarded the possibility of me getting stronger, then wondered if Cody was really going easy on me. Before I could really ponder, Cody pushed a little, sending me off balance and right under his swing.

"C'mon guys!" Hayner and them were cheering.

"Go!" Alison and Paul yelled.

I jumped up, aiming a hit to his side, but instead hitting his arm, and then I heard the only yell that really stuck out at me.

"C'mon Rachell! Are you seriously gonna let that lamer beat you?"

My eyes darted to the right, seeing Seifer with a shit-eating grin on his face a taunting demeanor. He glared at Cody, then smirked at me, a sign he obviously wanted me to win. Whaaat? Cody must have heard the lamer comment, and growled under his breath, going at me even faster and stronger than before, making it hard to keep up with his hits and blocks, dodges and advances. No orbs, just sheer skill as I struggled (again…?) to keep him at bay. Just a little longer…

"Stop, stop, stop…"

We stopped in mid attack to look over at a very flashy man walk up to the Struggle rink, lilac shirt loosely fitting over his chest (no man should ever wear that color), black pants ruffled in the warm wind as he smiled at Cody and I, violet eyes sparkling. "You two are obviously equally matched. This is pointless."

"Oh, so how are we going to share the belt and trophy? Huh?" Cody barked. "Let us battle. Someone will win eventually."

"Eventually isn't in the future, young man." He was handed a bat, and my eyes widened. "Which is why I have decided that I will fight the both of you at the same time."

Cody started laughing. "Are you serious? Did you just see that fight? We'll take you down to quickly!"

Setzer chuckled, flipping his silver hair out of his face. "I did, and I saw your weaknesses. Out of all the hits she had sent to you, you went out of your way to block the ones sent to close to your face. And her knees are hurt, every leap she made was strained and I saw the pain in her eyes."

"Creeper…" I mumbled under my breath, but Cody heard and chuckled.

"So, if you do not mind, let us start."

Cody and I looked to each other and shrugged. The announcer cleared his throat. "Well, in all of the history of the Struggle, we've never had a two against one! This is a history-making moment! So, without any delay, I present the Struggle champ versus Cody and Rachell, the runners up!"

There were girls screaming for Setzer and I heard our friends (and Seifer) yelling for us to kick his ass, which I was more than happy to do. "Ready?" We nodded, taking our positions. "STRUGGLE!"

He was the first to move, jumping back, a safer distance away as Cody and I looked for a weak spot. "He can't watch both of us at the same time… I'll get his front and distract him if you aim for his back." Cody whispered to me. I smiled.

"I can do that." I told him back, gasping when he moved quicker than he had against me, bringing his Struggle bat to attack Setzer, but the silver haired man jumped back, and I took the opportunity to lunge, bat running from his right shoulder blade to his left lower back and giving Cody and me ten orbs, putting us ahead by a lot.

"Smart." Setzer chuckled, making me gasp with surprise when he turned on me, bat raised. "But, you left yourself wide open."

"NO SHE DIDN'T!"

Cody was running at him again, this time hitting his stomach hard and I wobbled back, knees buckling a little. He was right- my knees were hurt bad enough to affect my fighting. I growled a little as five orbs fell into his possession, putting us ahead by only five. The brunette stumbled back himself, still gripping the handle of his bat with his life, dodging another short attack before jabbing him in the stomach. Twenty orbs? Damn Cody!

"End!"

Cody and I looked to the announcer, who smiled wide. "Cody and Rachell are the winners!"

I beamed over at him, then tackled him into a hug, kissing him on the cheek. "We did it! We won!"

Out of the corner of my eye, Setzer was walking away, but he turned quickly, pointing in our direction as Alison, Paul, Hayner, Olette, Pence and Roxas ran up to us. I could see Seifer standing near the back, smiling at us, obviously content, and the Struggle promoter carry our Champion Belt and trophy over to us, handing me the trophy and Cody the belt. "Congratulations! You two are our new champs!"

With out prizes, I felt Alison and Hayner's hands on my shoulder. "Let's go get some ice cream to celebrate!"

* * *

The warm breeze blew past my face softly, making me sigh and look down at my ice cream, taking a small bite of it as memories surfaced again: _Red hair blew past his face as he rubbed the back of his head, looking straight ahead as I laughed along with the black haired girl next to me. "Oh, Axel! You're face is red!"_

I blinked it away, but another bite caused another memory to rush back, making my head hurt a little: _Silver hair clashed against the sky as viridian eyes stared straight ahead. He took another bite of his ice cream, frowning a little. "How can you like this stuff?" Another bite. "So maybe it's not that bad…"_

My mind came to again, and I looked over at Alison and Paul, the latter who still gave the ice cream a weird glare as Alison shook something out of her head, smiling over at me as she caught my gaze. "C'mon Paul, try it."

"No way. It's gotta weird name. I ain't tryin' ice cream with 'sea salt' in the title."

Alison frowned. "It's not even that salty! Although I have to remember how it tastes for next time I make it…"

Her boyfriend seemed to cave in without any pressure, and he took a small bite, eyes growing wide. "Okay, so it ain't that bad…"

I laughed, but Cody's reaction was less than happy. A frown was set on his face. "Ugh. How can you like this stuff?"

I smiled. "Because it's just the right kind of salty and sweet. It's perfectly balanced!"

"Yeah, whatever." He took another bite. "Okay, so maybe it's not that bad…"

I shook off his reaction in comparison to the memory's, then smiled at him. "See? All you had to do was get a taste for it!"

Hayner nodded from somewhere down the rail. "Yeah! First time I got Roxas to try it, he nearly coughed it out on me… But they made that batch too salty, so I guess that's why…"

"It took two more bars of the good kind to make him eat it everyday." Olette smiled. "He's loved it ever since."

Roxas laughed a little.

I smiled at them, then looked at the sunset, my mind drawn back to the Struggle competition. "Oh! Hang on!" I reached behind me and grabbed the trophy, plucking the beads off. I tossed the red one to Alison, the green one to Paul and the yellow one to Cody, keeping the blue crystal for myself.

"Did I really just get the girly color…?" Cody complained, but I elbowed him before he could continue. I held mine up to the sun, looking through the colored light, seeing my friends mirror me in a way. I smiled and put it away in my pocket before I dropped it, taking one more bite of my ice cream.

"Does anyone else want any more?" Roxas asked, looking over at us. "I'm gonna go get more."

"I'll take another one!" Paul chimed, Alison and Cody nodding in agreement. I smiled and shrugged.

"I'll be right back then-" Roxas stood and his foot slipped on the ledge, and he fell back.

"Roxas!"

I looked over as he fell, a shoot of pain racked my body and I held my head, falling backward.

* * *

"_Namine?"_

"…"

"_Namine? What's happening to me?"_

"_Who are you? And that's not my name. I'm Kairi."_

"_Kairi… I know you. You're that girl he likes."_

"_Who? Please, a name!"_

"_I'm Roxas."_

"_Okay, Roxas, but can you tell me __**his**__ name?"_

"_You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi! Okay, I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an 'S'!"_

* * *

"Rachell! Hey!"

I opened my eyes slowly and looked up at Cody, eyes slowly adjusting to the light. Hayner and the gang as well as Alison and Paul were looking down at me as I blinked up at them stupidly. "Are you okay?" Olette asked me, concern in her green eyes.

I sat up, rubbing my head softly. "Yeah, I think so… Ouch. That hurt."

"You fell backward."

I looked up quickly to see Roxas standing behind the crowd, blue eyes shining at me. "Y-You!"

Roxas tilted his head.

"You fell off the tower!" I yelled, standing up and pointing at him. "I saw you! You fell off right before I fell backward! And you should be dead!"

Silence settled over us, as Hayner started laughing. "Nice joke! Did you hit your head that hard against the concrete? If Roxas fell off the tower, what's he doing up here?"

I opened and closed my mouth stupidly. Dammit, he got me. "Maybe I was just imaging thing… Haha."

They nodded, when the clock chimed. "Ah, we need to head home." Olette said softly. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

As they left, I turned to Cody, Alison and Paul. "He did, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but as soon as you fell backward, the entire place stood still and kind of backed up. Roxas was suddenly back on the tower and you were still out." Alison told me, her musing growing serious. "I don't think this is following the story line, guys. In a way, yes, but no at the same time…"

I held my head. "Oh great. More effort."

Cody chuckled at me, before scooting away. "We should do what they did and find somewhere to stay tonight. I'm tired as hell."

"After all that fighting today, who wouldn't be?" Alison said, taking Paul's hand in hers as they walked down the stairs of the tower together, Cody and I following. Just as we reached the bottom step, I turned and looked back up, just to see an ice cream stick fall down, reaching my feet as if on a cue. I leaned down and picked it up, turning it over.

Winner.


End file.
